


Swap Our Places

by TheJemi



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Season 3 Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 19:47:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1660334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJemi/pseuds/TheJemi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What's wrong?" - "Nothing. They're gone. Let's get back to the car." He couldn't do it. Not to Claudia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swap Our Places

_"Pete? What is it? What's wrong?"_

 

Myka could take it, he knew. He knew Myka could take it. His Mykes could do anything. She would be hurt. She would be confused. But she was his Myka and she would pull through - she would pull him through and they would be together, partners, until the end.

 

_"Nothing. They're gone. Let's get back to the car."_

_"What's wrong?"_

 

But Claudia – oh, Claudia - she has lost too much, seen too much, was too young, too old, too innocent, too jaded. He doesn't want to be the one to tell her. Doesn't want to watch her face crumble and her whole world collapse. He doesn't want to be the one who took away that last piece of her innocence. His quirky buddy. He can't take away that bit of happiness she had just minutes before.

 

He couldn't do it. Not to Claudia.

 

_"Claudia, I said get back to the car!"_

 

Myka knows. She knows before he makes it down the steps. She knows. She always knows. He never raises his voice at them if he could help it. They were his girls. They were his family. They were his life. This was his life, their life, and it was shattering down around them in a deafening wave of chaos, breaking over their little bubble of hope.  

 

  _"Pete. What is it?"_

 

 He can't. He can't do it to her. Not again. Not this time.

 

_"Please get back to the car."_

 

Claudia pushes past him and he knows that’s it. It’s over.  Claudia will be ruined and there’s nothing he can do to save her anymore.

 

He would die for them, a thousand times over. He would kill for them. Do anything possible or impossible to save them. He can't save her from this. He can just hide her, a little bit longer. Keep her safe, just a little bit longer. Keep her innocent and sweet. Protect her from the reality of their world just a little bit longer.

 

_"Pete."_

 

She knows. Myka always knows. She stays with him for a second.  Just a second. That's all he needs.  It's all they need. They both know how it ends.

 

He just doesn't want her to see. He doesn’t want to be the one responsible. Even Myka won’t be able to fix him then. He knows she’ll want to. But Claudia will need her more than him and he hates it when Myka sees him fail. He wants to tell her. He wants to tell her everything and nothing all in that second. That she’s his best friend. That he loves her. That he would die for her, that he would kill for her. For Claudia.

 

_"No!"_

 

He couldn't save Steve. He didn't even know until the end. That hardly mattered. They were friends. They were family. They were brothers, almost. What kind of man couldn't save his brother?

_"Claudia. Claudia!"_

 

He can’t protect Claudia. He had made peace with not being her hero anymore. He can be her playmate. He would always be her protector.  He just doesn't know how – not now, not after this.  He knows what this will do to her. He couldn't stop it.

 

Myka flies past him and he knows it’s her that Claudia needs. Myka will help her. She’ll be able to protect Claudia just a little bit longer than he could. Myka will be there for her because he just can’t right now. He can’t be her protector or her hero or her playmate. So Myka will be, because she’s his partner and he needs her to.

 

_"...So you need to help me."_

 

He wants to be angry. To yell and scream and kick things until his throat is raw and he's done his damage. He wants to cry and run and kill Sykes all at the same time. But Myka needs him just like he needs her.

She needs him to do his job. She needs him to cajole Claudia. She needs him to support her. She needs him to carry their little misfit, lopsided family through this. Myka needs him and he needs her and Claudia will need them both.

_"This was for nothing."_

 

He couldn’t save Steve -but he can finish what the other man started. And that, Pete thinks, is going to have to be enough.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of the few pieces I've done that I've ever been really proud of. It was a bit of a different style for me. This went through some minor edits, and the original is posted over at FF.N under the same title. There was so much happening in this scene, so much of it so very subtle that I wanted to try and get some of it down on paper. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
